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Alred and Stigand, the two great prelates of the realm, had conducted Harold to the church , and up the aisle to the altar, followed by the chiefs of the Witan in their long robes; and the clergy with their abbots and bishops sung the anthems "Fermetur manus tua," and "Gloria Patri."
Alred shook his head and answered: "Man's heart is more strong in the flesh than true to the spirit." "Pardon me, father," said Haco, "if I suggest that your most eloquent and persuasive ally in this, were Edith herself.
They all paused at the foot of the narrow dais on which Harold stood, and Alred repelled by a gesture his invitation to the foremost to mount the platform. Then Alred began an harangue, simple and earnest. He described briefly the condition of the country; touched with grief and with feeling on the health of the King, and the failure of Cerdic's line.
"I don't want to be crowned king, rude man, with your laidly moustache: I want to be made knight, and have banderol and baldric. Go away!" "We go, son," said Alred, mournfully. And with slow and tottering step he moved to the door; there he halted, turned back, and the child was pointing at him in mimicry, while Godfroi, the Norman tutor, smiled as in pleasure.
And Harold anxiously watched the faces of the assembly, and saw no relenting. And Gurth crept to Harold's side. And the gay Leofwine looked sad. And the young Wolnoth turned pale and trembled. And the fierce Tostig played with his golden chain. And one low sob was heard, and it came from the breast of Alred the meek accuser, God's firm but gentle priest.
At the foot stood Harold; on one side knelt Edith, the King's lady; at the other Alred; while Stigand stood near the holy rood in his hand and the abbot of the new monastery of Westminster by Stigand's side; and all the greatest thegns, including Morcar and Edwin, Gurth and Leofwine, all the more illustrious prelates and abbots, stood also on the dais.
But still goodly was the array of Saxon mitres, with the harsh, hungry, but intelligent face of Stigand, Stigand the stout and the covetous; and the benign but firm features of Alred, true priest and true patriot, distinguished amidst all. Around each prelate, as stars round a sun, were his own special priestly retainers, selected from his diocese.
Alred lifted his mild eyes to Harold, and there were both pity and approval in his gaze, for he divined the Earl. "Thou hast chosen the right course, my son; and we will retire at once, and elect those with whom thou mayest freely confer, and by whose judgment thou mayest righteously abide." The prelate turned, and with him went the conclave.
Six of the ecclesiastics, most eminent for Church learning, small as was that which they could boast, compared with the scholars of Normandy and the Papal States, but at least more intelligent and more free from mere formal monasticism than most of their Saxon contemporaries, and six of the chiefs most renowned for experience in war or council, selected under the sagacious promptings of Alred, accompanied that prelate to the presence of the Earl.
One of these last ushered the noble Saxons into a low, forlorn ante-hall; and there, to Harold's surprise they found Alred the Archbishop of York, and three thegns of high rank, and of lineage ancient and purely Saxon. Alred approached Harold with a faint smile on his benign face: "Methinks, and may I think aright! thou comest hither with the same purpose as myself, and you noble thegns."
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